Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to a display device, and, more particularly, to a display device including a liquid crystal layer disposed between display substrates.
Discussion
Display devices visually display data. Examples of display devices include liquid crystal displays (LCDs), electrophoretic displays (EPDs), electrowetting displays (EWDs), organic light-emitting displays (OLEDs), inorganic electroluminescent displays (ELDs), field emission displays (FEDs), surface-conduction electron-emitter displays (SEDs), plasma displays (PDs), cathode ray tube (CRT) displays, and the like.
Of the above-noted display devices, LCDs are widely used. A conventional LCD typically includes a pair of display panels having electric field generating electrodes, such as pixel electrodes and a common electrode, and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the display panels. Switching devices selectively provide voltages to at least the pixel electrodes for driving the liquid crystal layer. If source and drain electrodes of a switching device are not properly patterned, driving failure of the switching device may occur, and, as a result, a hot pixel or a dead pixel may be generated.
The human eye is more sensitive to, and, therefore, can more easily recognize, a hot pixel (e.g., a “bright dot” defect) in a dark state of an LCD than a dead pixel (e.g., a “dark dot” defect) in a bright state of an LCD. As such, stricter design criteria govern hot pixels than dead pixels during a pass/fail test for a liquid crystal panel. A method, however, is needed to minimize panel defects caused by hot pixels. A laser repair method may be utilized to transform a hot pixel into a dead pixel; however, radicals may be generated in a pixel to be repaired as a result of intense energy from laser light applied during the laser repair process. The intense energy may cause a chain reaction with materials of a color filter layer and/or a liquid crystal layer in a display panel. As a result, the voltage holding ratio (VHR) may decrease not only in the pixel to be repaired, but also in one or more neighboring pixel regions. Decreases in the VHR may cause decreases in the luminance of the LCD.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the inventive concept, and, therefore, it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.